Baited

Chapter 19. Friends

I flinched at her words. They came out so abruptly and I felt the vibration of her voice through my chest. She wanted me to 'spill it'... tell her everything. I would but not without doing one thing first. I may be a terrible friend but I learn from my mistakes.

I reached into my pants pocket and pulled out my phone.

"What are you doing?" Jessica asked. "Are you really going to-"

I held my hand up while I pulled up Cooper's contact information. She slapped it away just as quickly as I put it up.

"Spencer!" She was getting upset.

I stopped for a moment to look up from the phone and address her. "I need a moment, ok?" I didn't intend for it to come out as harsh as it did but she did take a step back, giving me some time.

With Cooper's contact number opened on my phone, I decided not to notice the multiple texts I had sent him throughout the week. All of them that had gone un-responded to.

Instead, I sent another. "Coop. Please. If you are seeing this. Mom's got Jess involved. I'm her first stop. Assuming she'll be on her way to you in due time. She wants to know what's up. CAN I TELL HER?"

I made sure to cap the last question. If I wanted him to notice anything from the text, it was that. It would at least get his attention. Or so I hoped it would.

My phone vibrated shortly after and I almost dropped it when it did. On my screen, a text from Coop - "Well. My permission didn't stop you before."

He responded! He responded! He responded!

For the first time in a week I almost smiled. Almost.

I wasted no time responding with, "Lesson learned. I promised it wouldn't happen again and so I am asking."

I watched as the bubble dots appeared, vanished, appeared again and then vanished again. I almost gave up on the idea he may actually respond again when a full text came through.

"That's fine. It's cool you asked but whatever. It'll be good to talk to someone about everything, so don't take up too much of her time."

Jessica huffed, she was becoming impatient but I had a feeling she knew who I was texting. And if she did, she wouldn't want to interrupt it so she waited as I typed up a response.

"You can come over. We can tell her together. She's spending the night."

It felt like forever for his final response to come through. When it did, I felt a slight ping in my chest.

"Nah. I think I'll pass. Tell her I'll call her in the morning."

Well that hurt but what was I expecting. Not wanting to end it just yet I sent one more text.

"Ok. Night Coop. I miss you."

I waited a minute or two for him to respond but he didn't. So, I took my phone off vibrate and set it down. If he did respond, I wanted to be alerted the moment it came through.

With Cooper's permission, I was ready to tell Jessica everything. But where do I start?

"So..." I took a deep breath in. "We needed money to get home from Miami."

***

"And now, these last few texts" I showed her my phone with the text exchange I had with Cooper "that just happened... this has been the first time we've spoken in a week."

Jessica sat on my desk chair with a blank look on her face. Through the story she had changed positions and moved about my room randomly. It seemed with each new revolution, she just couldn't sit still.